The trigger of the TOFUS detector

The TOFUS detector is a low-energy neutron detector based on double scattering and dedicated to cold fusion experiments. A solution has been found by means of the double scattering technique for neutron detection. The realized apparatus, the trigger, and the detector performance concerning the time resolution and the dead time are described. The authors have designed, built, and tested special logic circuits allowing a fast decision in a time less than 200 ns, and able to reduce the background signal to 0.035 trigger/s. Then a software analysis reduces this number of 0.007 events/s in the (2-3) MeV neutron energy range